LONDON: Carlos Alcaraz spoiled Oliver Tarvet’s Wimbledon adventure as the defending champion moved into the third round with a 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 win over the British amateur on Wednesday after Aryna Sabalenka stemmed the tide of shock exits.

A record-breaking number of seeds crashed out at the All England Club in the first round, but Alcaraz and women’s world number one Sabalenka avoided seismic shocks on Centre Court.

Second-seeded Alcaraz needed two hours and 17 minutes to subdue world number 733 Tarvet, who produced flashes of his emerging talent to delight the partisan crowd.

“First of all I have to give big praise to Oliver. In his second match on the tour, I just loved his game to be honest,” Alcaraz said. “I knew I had to play my best tennis. I was really happy with my performance but big praise to him as well.”

Alcaraz has won his past 20 matches since losing to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final in April, a blistering streak that has brought him titles at the Rome Masters, the French Open and Queen’s Club.

The 22-year-old Spaniard, who fought back from two sets down to beat Jannik Sinner on clay in an epic final at Roland Garros last month, has won 31 of his 34 Tour-level matches on grass.

His last defeat at Wimbledon came against Sinner in the fourth round in 2022.

Having vanquished Novak Djokovic in the past two Wimbledon finals, Alcaraz is looking to join an elite group of Wimbledon icons.

The world number two hopes to become the fifth man in the Open Era to win at least three consecutive Wimbledon titles after seven-time champion Djokovic, Bjorn Borg, Roger Federer and Pete Sampras.

In stark contrast to Alcaraz’s fame and fortune, the unheralded Tarvet is just starting his tennis career and cannot even collect all of his Wimbledon prize money.

As a student of the University of San Diego, the 21-year-old has to maintain amateur status and will have to give up most of his earnings.

While Alcaraz is a five-time Grand Slam champion, Tarvet was playing just his second major main draw match after coming through three qualifiers and beating Leandro Riedi in the opening round.

Earlier, Sabalenka had opened proceedings on Centre Court on Wednesday, out-duelling 48th-ranked Marie Bouzkova 7-6(7/4), 6-4 in a heavy-hitting contest.

The Belarusian, who suffered painful defeats in the finals of both the Australian Open and the French Open this year, lashed an impressive 41 winners in a match lasting one hour and 35 minutes.

Sabalenka was joined in the third round by sixth seed and Australian Open champion Madison Keys, who made short work of Serbia’s Olga Danilovic, winning 6-4, 6-2.

Home hope Katie Boulter’s run at this year’s championships was ended by Argentina’s Solana Sierra 6-7(7/9), 6-2, 6-1.

Boulter had been looking to build on her impressive first-round victory over ninth-seed Paula Badosa, but her run was halted by debutant lucky loser Sierra.

On the men’s side, American 12th seed Frances Tiafoe was the latest leading player to endure a surprise defeat, losing to British world number 61 Cameron Norrie 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-5 in the second round.

Russian Andrey Rublev came from a set down to beat South African Lloyd Harris 6-7(1/7), 6-4, 7-6(7/5), 6-3 while Brazilian Joao Fonseca ousted American Jenson Brooksby.

GAUFF, ZVEREV OUSTED

On Tuesday, it was a second successive day of upsets at a sizzling All England Club as a succession of seeded players crashed and burned.

American second seed Coco Gauff, chasing a French Open-Wimbledon double after her Paris triumph, was the day’s most surprising casualty, losing 7-6(7/3), 6-1 to Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska as the sun set on a sultry day.

The most notable casualty in the men’s category was Germany’s Alexander Zverev, the third seed losing 7-6(7/3), 6-7(6/8), 6-3, 6-7(5/7), 6-4 to France’s Arthur Rinderknech in a marathon duel that began on Monday and was locked at one set apiece overnight.

In the first two days, eight of the top 10 seeded players across the men’s and women’s singles draws were eliminated, a Grand Slam record in the Open era.

On the men’s side, 13 seeded players lost in the first round, breaking the previous tournament record of 11 and tying the 2004 Australian Open for the most at a Grand Slam.

Zverev appeared to be a lost soul as he tried to come to terms with defeat, explaining that his off-court struggles were now impacting his game.

“I feel very alone out there at times,” said Zverev, who lost a third Grand Slam final when he was beaten by Sinner at Melbourne Park in January.

“I struggle mentally. I’ve been saying that since after the Australian Open. Yeah, just don’t know. I’m trying to find ways to get out of this hole. I keep finding myself back in it.

“I just feel generally very, very alone and very lonely... is a feeling that is not very nice. Just never felt that way before.

“I don’t think tennis is the problem right now for me. It’s something else that I have to find within me at the moment. Again, it’s difficult for me to tell you because I don’t have the answers right now.”

Italian Lorenzo Musetti, seeded seventh, was bundled out on Court Two by Nikoloz Basilashvili — the same court where earlier American women’s third seed Jessica Pegula was sent packing.

Late in the day yet another seed fell when Frenchman Ugo Umbert was beaten by veteran countryman Gael Monfils, again defying his 38 years to edge a five-setter.

Meanwhile, fourteen years after first adding her name to the Wimbledon honours board, twice champion Petra Kvitova performed her last dance on the lawns, the Czech losing 6-3, 6-1 to American 10th seed Emma Navarro.

Novak Djokovic closed out the day’s action on the main showcourt by getting past Frenchman Alexandre Muller 6-1, 6-7(7/9), 6-2, 6-2 despite being hampered by a stomach bug midway through his match. He will face Briton Dan Evans next.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2025